Re: Breathers (was Microchatter chit chat)

From:

rueggp

I used to be a paraffin block "breather" until I started doing GMA work. Don't
try breathing on GMA blocks because they are hydrophilic and will take on the
moisture and stick together, unless of course the GMA blocks are too hard and
need a little moisture to soften, but the sections you cut then will be a lot
thicker.
What I do for paraffin blocks in place of breathing on them is wet a small piece
of gauze and touch it to the block as it is held on the microtome.
You might ask, why don't I just breath on paraffin blocks and not breath on GMA
blocks, well, I guess I am just not coordinated enough to switch back and forth
and when I am in the "microtomy zone" my habit instincts seem to take over kinda
of like auto pilot.
Patsy
"J. A. Kiernan" wrote:
> Bryan Hewlett wrote:
> > It would be intriguing to pole the 'netters', in order to find the ratio of
> > 'Breathers' vs 'Non-Breathers', how about it folks?
> > It would also be intriguing to find out why the 'Breathers' think it works?
> > ... 'Huffing', that arcane, gentle, open mouthed art that Jeff describes.
>
> Dear Bryan, I'm a breather.
>
> Gentle low-velocity oral exhalation helps a lot when static
> electricity renders ribbons unduly unruly. As to why? How
> about the same reason that static generally is reduced by
> humidity?
>
> The dry/damp stuff is probably explained in physics books
> for schoolchildren, but I stopped reading them more than 40
> years ago, and can't remember why water vapour discharges
> static.
> John.
> -------------------------
> John A. Kiernan
> Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology
> The University of Western Ontario
> London, Canada N6A 5C1
> kiernan@uwo.ca
> http://publish.uwo.ca/~jkiernan/